An inevitable part of riding horses is that we will all hit the ground at some point in our career. Because of this given, it is critical to learn to roll and fall without damaging our arms or legs or other important joints. Injuries are frustrating and can be avoided if you learn to fall correctly. I remember my grandmother always telling me to duck and roll whenever possible.

If you do suffer from an unfortunate fall, take care to mend your injury before remounting, or you may be out of the saddle for much longer than you thought. A medical kit of anti-inflammatory drugs, traumeel, arnica, and sore-no-more will help you mend quickly.

Training properly requires tremendous patience and disicpline as well as a gifted teacher. Many of us often work alone and benefit greatly from the “eyes on the ground”, that is someone who can tell us exactly what is going on that we may not feel or see from the saddle.

It is critical while training not to continually perform the wrong movement, as this is training bad habits. By having someone on the ground to watch over your work, you will progress more quickly toward your goal and avoid the pitfalls of making senseless mistakes.

Understanding your horses’s muscle system is key to keeping him sound and happy. Daily training should include warm-up and lots of stretching excercises to supple and loosen your horses muscles and spine for optimal movement and health. Think yoga for horses when starting out your training session. Allow him to stretch his neck forward and downward to activate the proper carrying muscles.

Here you can see Bond is balance as he trots a 20 meter circle, properly bent in the direction he is travelling, the result of many hours of stretching the muscles to create a solid musculature allowing him to perform all of the high level movements with ease.

As a judge, I pay particular attention to the horse’s transitions for an overview of the quality of training accomplished. Recently new tests score specific transitions, lending more weight to the final score of the test. This was done for a very good reason. Riders tend to train movements in each test, often straying from the training scale. By incorporating the basics in simplistic ways, the rider is forced back on track and must adher to the principles of the basic training scale which places rhythm and balance as the basis to build all movements from.

The most commom mistake riders make at the lower levels is to forget to prepare the horse for the transition. The rider must always prepare, ask and reward for each communication to her horse. Planning ahead is key, prepare for the transition and then perform it seamlessly at the correct place in the test for high scores.

Eventing is like skiing, motorcycle riding or snowboarding an extreme sport which involves calculated risks. One of the main reasons many people are attracted to the sport is because of the edge of excitment involved in galloping across open fields and jumping various obstacles at speed.

The governing bodies of the USEF and USEA have established a task force to examine the recent accidents and deaths to determine if further safety elements can possibly be established to minimize the injuries. Interestingly, the ten event riders who were killed in the past year all suffered from unfortunate falls resulting in death, but were not under similar circumstances.

There is no underlying common thread or trend plaguing the sport. Riders simply must think of safety first when preparing for competition and know when to retire if it is not their day. Trainers must honestly evaluate their students and horses abilities before allowing them to move up the levels.

I am very strict with my students, they must complete 3 clear show jumping and cross country rounds and feel confident in themselves before moving up the levels. This is a sport where you cannot take short cuts and must do all your homework in order to succeed.

The Ford Ranch, several miles outside of Sante Fe is the setting for the new film “Appaloosa” (2008) starring Ed Harris, Viggo Mortenson and Rene Zellwiger. I have just returned from the set where they were shooting the final scenes before wrapping the film. Final edits will take place in the next months for a release date around March 2008. Being a western means there are many horses in nearly every scene. Here is Cash, the 17 hand Quarter Horse Stallion trained by Rex Peterson who plays Viggo’s mount in the film. Cash was extremely well behaved considering this is his first experience on the set with all kinds of crazy things going on around him. Here he is in the common stance of “hurry up and wait” the mantra on all film sets.

Congratulations to Lizzie and Berry for a stellar performance at Weston, here is Berry dropping into the water complex, galloping around the cross country course with no time faults.

Once mastered, flying changes are fun to ride. To the uneducated eye, this movement looks like skipping as the horse shifts his balance from right to left and back again. Riding a change on a well trained horse is simple. By shifting your weight from one seat bone to the other the horse changes his legs. One of the most common problems with riders is that they over ride the change rather than simply relax and merely “think the change”. Once a single change is mastered, it is fun to start changing in sequences of four, three, two and eventually the Uni Tempis, that is changing every stride. Here is a photograph of Bond performing a beautiful change. He is light in the bridle, straight in the body and balanced.

A few spaces are still available for the next clinic with Rex Peterson in January at Windrock Farm. Rex works with each horse/rider combination for a half day over the course of 3 days. Riders learn how to communicate more effectively with their horses through a sequence of excercises that teach the horse confidence. Contact cari@cariswanson.com for details.

Photographer, Kathy Landman, captured the spirit of RJ late one afternoon in October. Kathy is available for portraits of you and your family with your favorite horse or dog. Contact kathylandman@aol.com.